New Zealand – How Massive Gun Confiscation works in practice?

New Zealand Police has started the implementation and large scale firearms confiscation campaign after NZ goverment banned “assault weapons” including semiautomatic firearms as a knee-jerk reaction to recent act of terrorism. (Note: Illegal firearms were used and criminals did not use legally available limited-capacity-magazines.)

Here is how the confiscation works in practice – each firearms enthusiast will receive a form (below).

Each owner is given 3 alternatives:

1. Unconditional surrender:
I surrender firearms to police and do not seek compensation.

2. Surrender (Compensation sought) ja korvauksen hakeminen:
I surrender firearms to police and seek compensation to the extent that I am eligible (note: Interesting choice of words here – I would dare to guess that I am not eligible to full fair market value)

3. I apply for endorsement
If you are not a common subject, you can apply for special excemption but one has to provide a reason. Following reasons seem to be ok: Firearms dealer, pest control, collector/Theatrical use, Heirloom/Memento

The catch is – you have to surrender your firearms to police while they evaluate whether you qualify for the exception and if not – firearms will be destroyed.

This is sad day for our community. This also one of the reasons why we are trying to make Firearms United Network a strong, well connected lobbying organization so that YOU would not have to fulfill this kind of form in the near future.

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